Early-Middle Ordovician conodont biofacies on the Yangtze Platform margin, South China: applications to palaeoenvironment and sea-level changes

9172 Conodonts have been recovered from the uppermost Hunghuayuan Formation and the Zitai Formation at two sections in Shitai County, southern Anhui Province, South China, which was situated close to the margin of the Lower Yangtze Platform during the Early to Middle Ordovician. Systematic and multivariate statistical studies on these conodonts permit recognition of seven conodont biofacies: Tropodus biofacies, Diaphorodus biofacies, Oepikodus biofacies, Baltoniodus biofacies, Paroistodus biofacies, Periodon biofacies and Protopanderodus biofacies. Each biofacies is restricted to a particular lithofacies and stratal position and shows a consistent order and/or position within the succession. Turnover of these conodont biofacies is related to sea-level changes. The transgressive-regressive patterns demonstrated by the conodont biofacies compare closely to published sea level curves for South China, and highlight the utility of conodont biofacies as a means of confirming sedimentological evidence of relative sea-level change.